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Before handing me the keys, someone at Bentley saved a playlist full of classical music onto the new 2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed’s 15-gigabyte hard drive, because that’s what you listen to when you drive a Bentley, right? Whether by masterful planning or sheer luck, each time I reached a challenging set of turns or an unrestricted section of autobahn on my test drive, Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” came on the sound system. It was as if the car gods wanted me to wring this big Bentley out for all it was worth.

Richard Wagner wrote 13 operas, but perhaps his most recognized work (though you can make a strong case for the bridal march, which most don’t know was also his) is the “Ride of the Valkyries” from “Die Walkure,” its defiant horns calling the Valkyries to action. The Valkyries, borrowed from Norse mythology, were female warriors sent by the god Odin to decide who would live and die in each battle, and bring half of the dead (those on the side Odin favored) to Valhalla. Riding down from the heavens, they were the embodiment of power and inevitability, not to mention a bit of brutality. After all, they only showed up in battles. Not a bad allegory for this bruiser of a Bentley.

There’s really not much to differentiate this car from a regular GT W12, visually. The only place it says “Speed” is on the doorsills, and the “W12” script badges on the fenders look tacky. Regardless, some new badges, tailpipe tips and wheels don’t scream to the world that you’re driving something even more special than the regular Bentley. If there’s anything I know about the folks in West L.A. who buy Bentley Continentals like they buy clothes, they want everyone to know they’re driving something special. These are people who buy an AMG Benz for the badge, not the performance.

The big difference, of course, is what lies beneath. A new, faster engine computer allowed Bentley to crank the boost up another 4.4 psi and net another 49 horsepower and 74 lb-ft of torque for a total of 616 horsepower and 590 lb-ft. For those who don’t have their Bentley stats memorized, that’s the same torque output of the old Continental GT Supersports and just 5 fewer horsepower. A few aerodynamic tweaks, and voila! This is now the fastest production Bentley ever at 205 mph, 1 mph more than the Supersports. The Supersports will still show the Speed its taillights in a drag race, but the Speed will likewise dust the standard GT W12 on the way to 60 mph by four-tenths of a second, doing the deed in 4 seconds flat. But was it worth it?

Bentley claims the Speed is two cars in one: a luxury tourer and a sports car. In reality, it’s more of a Jekyll/Hyde relationship. There’s the suave, debonair social elite who charms at dinner parties most nights, but then puts on a pair of designer jeans and goes clubbing other nights. It’s still dressed nicely, but its behavior changes completely.

The GT Speed is very good at being a GT car. It rides well on clean German roads; it’s quiet; it handles nicely; and the power is smooth as a good port wine. Drop it in Sport, though, and its wild side comes out. Too wild, in fact. The throttle sharpens up so much that it’s easy to induce drivetrain lash and sharp bucking if you’re on and off the throttle too quickly. It takes a very delicate touch. Likewise, the transmission becomes so eager to shift hard and fast that it gives up serious refinement. It’s fairly smart about downshifts, but they’re so sharp it almost upsets the car. There’s nothing Bentley about this side of the car. Sport mode is best taken in small doses, particularly when the road ahead is wide open and you can drive it as smoothly as you are quickly.

When you do find a nice road devoid of traffic, the handling feels like the regular-strength Conti GT W12. That is to say it’s very good. The Speed has much more grip than a car this heavy has any right to have. The limits of both the computer nannies and the tires are high enough that we gained no firsthand experience with either during our test drive across southern Bavaria. Part of that is because the car feels so enormous and heavy that it’s disconcerting to push that hard. It will grip, but it’s hard to believe it when you’re hurtling toward a sharp corner. You’d have to get pretty comfortable with it in the curves before you’d trust it to really take them as fast as it’s capable of. Narrow Alpine roads aren’t the place to find that out. This car needs space.

Find that space, and you’ll notice the steering does a nice light-to-firm change as speed picks up, and the shocks mimic the change with a gradual shift from softer to firmer. There’s little feedback, if any, in the wheel. As you might expect, it feels more interested in being refined than in being an actual sports car. The steering ratio is quick enough for most cases, all but the sharpest turns. On the downside, the engine has so much power it torque steers just a bit if you lay into it. Not refined.

That power, though, is intoxicating, as much for the enormity of it as how smooth it is. The torque is incredible. The car just surges forward as if propelled by electric motors. Speed just keeps building at an incredible pace. For a car so heavy, it accelerates like a sports car. The paddle shifters are awkwardly high and easy to confuse with the turn signal stalk, but if you choose to use them, the transmission is very responsive. Once you’re moving, it’s perfectly happy cruising at 120 mph and doesn’t start to really feel fast until you crest 130 mph or so. On an open stretch of autobahn, we saw 170 mph and it was perfectly stable.

The noise it makes isn’t the sexiest, but it fits the car. It’s actually kind of pretentious, really. In drive, it’s a soft rumble with the cadence of a machine gun and just enough edge to get people’s attention, but not enough to ruffle any feathers. In Sport, it’s uncorked and loud enough to turn heads, but still a sort of refined rumble that says “make way” rather than “move, mother——.” It all feels very prim and proper, not raw and angry. It’s more akin to riding a horse fast than a motorcycle.

Likewise befitting the car are the massive, optional carbon-ceramic brakes. This we discovered firsthand when a Volkswagen pulled in front of us on the autobahn when we were cruising at 165 mph. The Speed scrubbed a lot of speed quite fast, though there was a disconcerting wiggle in the rear end under the sustained hard braking. Out in the mountains, we didn’t push it hard enough to test for brake fade, but considering that it’s sporting the claimed largest brakes of any production car, it won’t likely be a problem.

As impressive as the braking power was the isolation of the cabin. Certainly, you’d expect a Bentley to be quiet inside, but a Speed model traveling at 170 mph? Still quieter than a Honda at 70 mph. Much. There’s a bit of tire noise, and, if you’re still standing on it, the roar of the engine, but it’s not much to complain about. The lack of traditional B-pillars means the front and rear side windows must seal against one another, and at speed, there’s some wind noise from the triumph of physics over aesthetic design. Few cars are this uneventful at such speeds.

As a piece of engineering, the Bentley Continental GT Speed is a thoroughly impressive car, and when left in drive, an equally impressive grand touring car. In crafting its meaner, sportier side, however, it feels as though Bentley’s gone a bit too far, giving up too much of the grace and refinement the company is known for. Perhaps Bentley customers wanted a bit more grit, but this still seems a bit more than they may have bargained for. As Brunhilde in Wagner’s “Die Walkure” tried to do what she thought was right but was ultimately punished for it, so too may the Speed be received. Still, there’s an easy cure: Leave it in drive.

2013 Bentley Continental GT News and Reviews

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